Paul. wrote:
>> Hello.
>> Why has this not been done?:
>> 1. grow vancomycin resistant Staph Aureus on a culture medium.
>> 2. Add some fungi
>> 3. See which fungi can survive in the dish and fend off the bacteria
>> 4. Purify the chemicals that the fungi used to fight off the bacteria
>> 5. Use this chemical as a new antibiotic against vancomycin resistant
> staph aureus (once one that can be used in humans is found).
>> Fungi and bacteria have been fighting eat other for millions of years, I
> am sure that the fungi can fight off the reistant bacteria faster than we
> can chemically produce a new antibiotic - in short, let evolution work to
> our advantage.
>> Paul
Surely, you're joking....what do you think a large number of
pharmaceutical companies and, more recently, biotechnology companies
have been doing about antibiotic resistance? We routinely screen both
chemical libraries and extracts from fungi, bacteria, and plants for
activity against many diseases, including resistant bacterial strains. I
suggest you go to a medical library and look up some information on a
rather well developed field termed "Natural Products".
Thomas Dougherty